Breech-loading fire-arm



, 3 Sheets-Sheet 1.

(Ho Model.)

D. KIRKWOOD.. Breech Loading Fire -Arm.,

No. 240,147. Patented April 12,1881.

WITNESSES (NoModeL) i r 3 Sheets-Shet 2. V D. KIRKWOOD. v BreechLoading' Fir e Arm.

No. 240,147. I Patented A ri 12,1881.

DANGER. wusnn I (No Model.) I

D. K1'RKWO0D. Breech Loading Fir-e Arm.

N0. 240,147. Patented April 12, l 8 8l.

WnTNESEl-ZE wzww 3 sheets-sheet a UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

- .DAVlD KIRKVVOOD, OF BOSTON, MASSAOHUSETTb.

BREECH-LQADING Fins-AR SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No.240,147, dated April 12, 1881.

Application filed December 2, 1880. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern Be it known that 1, DAVID KIRKWOOD, a citizenof the United States, residing at Boston, in the county of Suffolk andState of Massachusetts, have invented certain Improvements inBreech-Loading Fire-Arms, of which the following is a full, clear, andexact description, reference being bad to the accompanying drawings,making part of this specific'ation, in which.

Figure 1 is a plan of a portion of a breechloading shot-gun having my imjmovem'ents applied thereto. Fig. 2 is a vertical section through thesame, illustrating the interior construction. Fig. 3 is a plan of theunder side of a portion of the mechanism hereinafter described. Fig. 4is a side elevation of that portion of the gun to which my improvementsare applied. Figs. 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10 are details, to he hereinalterreferred to. Fig. 11 is a section on the line mo of Fig. 7. Fig. 12isaview of the cartridge-shell ejector and its operative mechanism,representing the stop or device which is applied thereto to render itsspring inoperative or modify its action, when desired. Fig. 13 isa viewof the stopand its operatinglever detached. Fig-1; is a detailrepresent-.

" ing,in elevatiomthe method by which the trigger-lockin g bar or leveris operated by the barrel-locking lever. Fig. 15 is a transverse sectionon the line y y of Fig. 2. Figs. 16, 17, and 18, are details.

The first part of my invention relates to an improvement on theself-cocking breech-loading gun for which Letters Patent No. 233,773were grantcd to me October 26, 1880, in which an automatictrigger-locking device operated by the barrel-locking lever is employedto prevent the accidental discharge of the gun,

an additional lever being used to unlock the trigger when the gun is tohe fired. When, however, this gun is in the hands of an experiencedperson, and it is desired to tire with great rapidity, the necessity ofmoving this lever to unlock the triggers after each time that thehammers are cooked occasions some little trouble and delay, to avoidwhich is the object of this part of my invention, which consists in soconstructing the trigger-locking device that it can,'by an extramovement of a lever, push-knob, or button connected thereinto action byagain moving the hand-leveror push-knob hack to its original position,and the gun can thus be instantly adapted, by a single movement of thehand-lever or pushknob, for the use either of persons who do not desireto be troubled with a safety-locking device, or. for those who demandsuch a protection against aecidentin thisclass of fire-arms.

Myinvention a'lso consists in the employment of a lever of peculiarconstruction for operating the trigger-locking device by hand, inconnection with a plate bearing certain words or characters indicatingdan ger or safety, which are exposed to view at the proper times, and adevice forlocking the hand-lever in certain positions, and at the sametime, if desired, exposing a word or character to indicate such positionor condition of the parts.

My invention also consists in the employ ment, in a self-cocking gunhaving its harm mers concealed from view, of pins or plungers adapted tobe operated by the hammers in a peculiar manner, so as to indicate bytheir position whether the hammers are cooked or nincocked, thusafi'ordin g a separate indicator of simple construction for each barrel,to show at a glance the position of its hammer, whereby additionalsecurity against accident is afi'orded.

My invention also consists in an improvement on the gun for whichLetters Patent No. 233,256 were granted to me October 12, 1880, in whichthe cartrid'geshell injector is first operated positively in a lineparallel to the axis of the barrel to start or loosen and partiallywithdraw the empty shell, and is then suddenly acted upon by a spring,by which an accelerating outward movement is imparted to the ejector tocause it to instantly throw out the shell entirely clear of the barrel;and this portion of my invention consists in the combination, with thecartridge-shell ejector and its actuating-spring, of a stop adapted tolimit 7. actuatin g-spring.

or modify the action of the spring upon the ejector, or entirely preventthe'spring from acting thereon under certain circumstances, as will bemoreparticularl y described hereinafter.

In the said drawings, A represents the breech-piece ot' adouble-barreled shot-gun, to which the barrels B are pivoted at a, totilt downward at the lllllZZlG-fllld upward at the breech.

represents one of the hammers, and D its The hammer ispivoted at Z) tothe breech-piece, its arm 0 hearing at its end a horizontal'pin or spur,d, which projects upon a shoulder, a, formed on the locking-lug f,attached to the under side of the barrels. The hammer bears, nearits'striking end, a tumbler-catch, g, which'is adapted to engage withthescar-nose h on the sear E, when the hammer is cockedby the direct actionof the shoulder e of the locking-lug-f on the arm 0, when the barrelsare tilted up at the breech to receive-the cartridges.

The trigger and trigger-sprin g may be of the ordinary construction, or,with some kinds of guns, the sear may be in one piece with the trigger.

The constructiomand mode of operation of the hammers being the same asin my aforesaid Letters Patent No. 233,773,;will not be herefurtherexplained, as they form no part of my present invention,

The device for lockin g the trigger to prevent the accidental dischargeof the gun is sub- -stantlally-the same as that described in myaforesaid Letters .Patent No. 233,773, but is capable of being moved toa greater extent, for apurpose to he hereinafter particularly described.This trigger-locking device consists of a sliding bar, G, one'end ofwhich projects into a recess, 1., in the side of the stud 7:, which isoperated by the top lever, l,in retracting the bolt H'from thelockinglugs, as seen in Fig. 14.. This recess is of such a shape thatupon the partial revolution of the stud 7r the shoulderm, which formsone side thereof, acts to move the bar horizoi'itally, thereby causing'it to move the locking bar or lever Isufficiently to shut upon and lockthe triggers a. n In lieu of the recess inthe stud-7c, the stud Quayhave an arm or pin projecting therefrom,

as. shown in Figs. 2 and I), for effecting the vunovement ot the slidingbar G, which is provided with a slot,p, and a, screw-stud, q, whichpasses through the slot 1) in the sliding bar,

fastens it to the-strap portion'of the breechpiecc, and allows the barto slide a. limited extent.

There is aloose connection between the locking-lever I and sliding barG, the lockinglever I being attached to'a' horizontal shaft or pivot, r,which bears at its outer end the side lever, K. Upon moving the toplever, l, to withdraw the loekingbolt II, the bar G is moved through theconnections described su" ilciently to throw the lower end of thelocking bar or lever I into a position directly over a projection, s,on'each trigger a, which is thus automatically locked, as desired eachtime mechanism employed for locking the barrels to the stock, which hasto be moved by'hand/ in unlocking the barrels,-so that the barrels maybe unlocked from the breech-piece, and the locking bar or lever Ioperated by one movement of a lever, push-knob, or button.

The side lever, K, is made V-shaped, or with two arms or bifurcators,t'a, as seen in Figs. 4, 5, 6, 7, and 9, and the side'plate, L,contiguous thereto, bears upon its face the words Danger, Constant, andLocked, which areso arranged with respect to the arms t u of the lever Kthat when the trigger is locked the word Locked will be exposed to view,a and the words Danger and Constant, concealed, as seen in Fig. 6; andwhen unlocked the word Danger exposed, and the words Locked and Constantconcealed, as seen in Figs; 4 and '5, thus indicating at once theposition of the parts and aifording an additional safeguard. I do not,however, confine myself to the employment of a lever, K, of the exactform shown, as it might be made with a single arm only, instead of withtwo arms, but in such case it'would not possess equal advantages indisclosing and concealing the words 011 the plate L, indicating thecondition of the gun.

'With experienced a'nd careful persons, who desire to tire the gun withgreat rapidity, the automatic locking-of the trigger and the necessityof moving the lever K by hand to unlock the triggers after each timethat the hammers are cocked, which occasions some little trouble anddelay, might be found undesirable, and I have therefore so constructedand arranged the trigger-locking mechanism as to admit of its beingmoved to such a position as to be uninlluenced by the movement of thebarrel-locking lever, and rendered inoperative until such time as it maybe again required for use, thus practically eliminating it from the gunfor the time being. This is accomplished by increasing the scope of themovement of the lever K and locking bar or lever I, so that by movingthe lever K into the position seen in Fig. 7 the lower end of the leverI will be carried. over beyond the projection s of the trigger a on theside opposite to that shown in Figs. 4 and 5, thus unlocking thetriggers, and at the same time moving the sliding bar into such aposition that it will be out of thereach of, and will not be moved oracted upon by, the mechanism connected with the" IIO top lever, l, whenthe latter ismovcd to unlock I security against accident when the gun isput the barrels to allow them to be thrown up at the breech, and thuswhen the lower end of the lever I is on one side of the projection s thetrigger is unlocked, but is again automatically locked on the succeedingmovement of the top lever, l; but when the lower end of the lever l ison the opposite side of the projection s, as in Fig. 7, the trigger willremain permanently unlocked, or until the lever K is again moved by thehand back to its original position, and by this simple extra movement ofthe lever K the gun can be thus instantly adapted for the use of personswho do not desire, for the time being, to be delayed by the necessity ofusing the safety trigger-locking device,which, however, can beinstantlythrown into action and rendered operative, as before, by moving thelever K back again to its former position. When the trigger-lockingdevice is thrown out of action or rendered inoperative. the lower arm,a, of the lever K is caused to cover the word Locked, and the two wordsDanger, Constant are both exposed to view within the. space between thebifurcations ta, as seen in Fig. 7, thereby indicating the exactcondition of the gun.

To the arm t of the lever K is secured a sliding bar, a, which isprovided on its inner side with a projection or catch, b, which isadapted to slide within a curved slot or groove, 0, in the plate L asthe lever is moved up or down by the hand, and this groove 0 is providedwit-h two lateral notches, d e, lnto which the catch 0 can be moved byoperating the slide a, so as to lock the lever K securely in theposition which it occupies when the"'trigger-locking device is thrownout of action, as in Fig. 7, or when it is down, with the triggerlocked, as seen in Fig. (i, the latter affording additional away loaded.The slot c is preferably made,

as shown in Figs. 8 and 10, with two concentric portions, 20 21, atdifferent distances from a common center,formiug a shonldcr,22, whichserves as a stop against which the catch 1) strikes when the leverK isfirst thrown up, rendering it necessary to move the slide a slightlybefore the lever can be moved up to throw the trigger-locking device outof action, so that' such movement can only he made by design,

and not accidentally. The slide a is provided with a series of notches,j", which are so arranged as to expose the word Fast when the lever K islocked inthc position which it occupies when the trigger is locked, thusindicating that the trigger is double or fast locked and that the slidea must be first moved to enable the trigger to be released.

Instead of the lever K being applied to the side of the stock, as shown,it is evident that it may be placed on the top of the stock and suitablyconnected with the trigger-looking lever I or the sliding bar G; and inlieu of a lever, K, a push knob or button, suitably connected with thelever I or sliding bar Gr, may be employed, if preferred, to operate thetrigwords or characters indicating the condition of the gun could bedisclosed through a slot or aperture by means of simple mechanismconnected with the moving parts.

The breech-piece A is provided on each side with a sliding pin orplunger, M, (one for each barrel,) to indicate by its position whetherits hammer is cocked or uncooked. This pin M slides through a nipple, g,which is screwed in to the breech and holds the pin in place. At thefront end of the pin is an enlargement, h, between which and the innerend, of the nipple is placed a spiral spring, i.

The striking end of the hammer G is provided with a projection, 10,which, when the hammer is being cocked, strikes against the forward endof the pin M and forces it outward positively against the resistance ofthe spring '5', causing its rear end to projectout some lit.- tledistance from the nipple, and thus indicate by its position that thehammer is cooked. When, however, the hammer is released and is thrownforward to discharge the gun the indicator-pin M is forced inward by itsspring 2', following the hammer as far as the limit of its movement willallow, which causes the outer end of the pin to be withdrawnsutficiently to show by its change of position that the hammer isuncooked.

Instead of a spiral spring, t, a flat sprint, may beemployed to forcethe indicator-pin inward on the release of the hammer, as seen in Fig.17, which represents a modification. of this part of my invention. Inthis latter construction the upper end of the flat spring is connectedwith the indicatoepin, the hammer on being cocked striking against thespring to push thepin outward,instead of being brought into conthct withthe pin itself, as the case where a spiral spring is employed, as inFigs.

'2 and 16.

If desired. the spring may be dispensed with and the pin M forced inwardby the direct action of a projection, 25, upon the hammer. adapted forthe purpose, as seen in Fig. 18, in which case the indicator-pin will bemoved both inward and outward positively by the direct action of thehammer itself. I prefer, however, to employ a spring for throwing theindicator-pin forward on therelease of the hammer, for the reason thatwhere no spring is employed the momentum of the hammer is liable to bediminished by its contact with the pin M, and the overcoming of theinertia thereof in the act of forcing it inward.

By providing the hammer, however, with the two projections 7c 25, (shownin Figs. 4 and 16,) in connection withaspring applied to the pin M, thepossibility of the pin M not being carried inward on the descent of thehammer is avoided, for the reason that itthe pin should accidentallystick in its bearings, from rust or other cause, so that the springwould fail to force it inward, the rear projection, 25, of the hammerwould strike it and insure its movement, thus preventing the sportsmanfrom be ger-locking device, in which case suitable l ing deceived by theposition of the pin, if it $M or less force, as may be desired.

were left projecting after the descent of the hammer. A separatesafetydevice of simple construction for each hammer is thus ali'orded-.

ed, which will indicate at a glance whether it v is cocked or uncooked.1

.0 as possible, the entranceot' water while the gun is'being carried by'the sportsman.

N is the. cartrnlge-shell ejector, the faceplate m,of which iits,as.nsual, into a recess at the rear ends of the barrels, and is provided[5 with a rod or shank, n, adapted to slide lon-' gitudinally iuanopening between the barrels, made to receive it. p is a pin whichprojects up from the breech-piece A, near the joint-pin a, in such aposition that as the rear ends of the barrels are thrown up the end 24ot the shank or rod n ot'the ejector is brought, as usual, into contacttherewith, and is thus, by the'iirst part of the movement of thebarrels, forced outward with a positive motion, which 25 serves to startor loosen and partially withdraw the emptyshell, and as the shank orrod. it continues to move outward an inclined shoulder or projection,26, on its'side, is brought into a position who acted upon by the end 270 ot' a short lever, q, againstwhich rests one end of a powerful spring,1", the force of which is thus brought to bear upon the ejector, by

whichuneans a sudden outward movement or impulse is given thereto, whichcauses it-to in- 5 stantly eject or throw out the shell entirelyclearot' the barrel as soon as the rear end of the latter issut'liciently elcvatedto allow the shell to clear the .face of thebreech-piece. When the ejector is forced back to its normal 40 positionthe end 27 of theleverq rests against the under side of the rod a, whichproduces the maximum tension on the spring 1'. I

The above-described mechanisli for operating the. ejector is, however,substantially the 5 same as that described in my aforesaid Let tersPatent No. 233,256, and forms no part of my present invention.

As it is not always desirable that the cartridge-shell should be ejectedclear of the gun 5 as, for instance, when the sportsman is in a boat,which might cause the loss of the shells- I overcome this ditliculty byemploying a stop which acts upon th'eejector, and may be thrown in andout of action by a lever operated from 5 the outside of the gun, orotherwise, this stop serving to modify or entirely prevent the suddenoutward, impulse given by the spring which operates the ejector so thatthe latter may have a. positive movement only, as in or- Go dinary.breech loading guns, or receive a greater or less powerful impulse fromthe spring to throw out the cartridge-shell with One ethod ofaccomplishing this is shown in Figs.

. 5 2, 12, and 13, in which a stud or short shaft,

R, is applied to the fore part, P, of the stock, and provided outsidethereof with a short 1c- Vcr, s, which can be easily moved by thehand.The stud R is provided on its. inner face or up per end with a hook orprojection, t, which, as the stud is partially revolved by the lever 8,projects or elvtends o er tin spring r in such a manner to serve as astop and prevent it from acting upon the lever g and imparting a suddenimpulse to the ejector. By turning this levers more or less the projection I. can be made to limit the throw of the spring 1' to a greater orless extent, so as to cause the shells to be expelled with more or lessforce. I l

Instead of the stop being made to operate upon the spring r,-whichactuates the ejector, it may be so arranged as to act upon the stem orrod a oflhe ejector, and thus limit the outward motion or throw thereof;or the stop may be so constructed as to limit the downward movement ofthe barrels, so that the ejector will not be moved outwardsuflicientlyiar, or to that point where the spring is allowed to impartan outward impulse thereto. Ido not therefin-e limit myself to theparticular construction of the stop or the manner in which it isapplied, as these maybe varied in any suitable manner without departingfrom the spiritof my invention, so long as the stop limits or modifiesthe action of the spring upon theejector, or entirely prevents thespring from having any intluence o action thereon.

What I' claim as my inventiomand desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In a self-cocking gun, a movable triggerlocking dog arranged to passaml repass the contact-point-on the trigger, so as to be operated by thelocking mechanism of the gun in one position, and to be beyond thecontrol of such mechanism in another position, and an 'ope'atingthumb-piece, all in combination, for I the purpose set forth.

2. In a .brealedown self-cocking gun, an automatic trigger-locking dog,I, an indicatingplate, L, provided with a zigzag slot, a cover-'ing-plate, K, provided with an aperture, f,

and rigidly connected to the locking-dog, and a slide a, having hearingsin plate K, and provided with a stud, b, engaging in zigzag'slot, allcombined, aranged, and operating as set forth.

3. ln a self-cocking gun, the imlicatorplatc L, in combination with acovcringplate, K,to operate the locking-dog, and provided with anaperture or slot,f, substantial ly; sand for the purpose set forth.

4. The accelerating extractor 1%, in combination with a controlling-stopand an operating tllllllll)-]ll000, for the purpose specified.

5. ln a ln'eech-loading self-cocltiuggun, the lever K, in combinationwith the slide (13pmvided with the catch 1), and theplate ll, providedwith the slot or groovedfllmving the lateral notches d c, allconstructed to opera substantially as and for the purpose herein doscribed.

6. In a break-down self-cocking gun, il:c

operated by the barrel-locking lever l, or equivl videtl with a lever,s, and at its innerend with a alent device, and the lever K, of a plate,L, hook on pr0jection, t, adapted to engage with bearing words orcharacters indicating Dan.- the spring 1*, substantially in the mannerand get and Safety, so placed as to be exposed for the purpose setforth.

5 to yiew,'or concealed by the lever in such a Witness my hand this 19thday of Novem- 15 manner as to always indicate the exact condi her, A. D.1880..-

tion of the gun, substantially as'described. DAVID KI'RKWOOD. t. 7 In abreech-loading. gun, the combination, In presence'bf- F t/ith thecartridge-shell ejector N and its act- P. E. TESGHEMACHER, 1oating-spring a", of the stop 01' stud R, pro- W. J. CAMBRIDGE.

